]]>A fter creating your social media strategy (go read our post on that first as that is an important first step to social media strategy!), it’s now time to start creating great content!

Obviously, we think Social Media is super hard and there is no way you can handle it in house. So Call us!

Just kidding! Social Media is NOT that hard, especially since you’re probably the subject expert, and we think there are plenty of instances where you don’t need to hire outside help and can handle it in-house. If you’re not sure whether to hire someone for marketing on your team or to use an agency, we covered our thoughts on that here– check it out!

We’ve distilled our process down to 5 Tips on how to plan social media content and make it totally doable for you and your team, small or large.

1. Plan your Content Topics and Ideas Quarterly

Take Time at the end of each quarter to plan your big picture ideas, content themes and social media posts for the next quarter. For example, about halfway through September, our team will have an meeting discussing each of our clients to plan the content for Q4 of 2018. In that meeting we will be armed with the marketing priorities, event pushes and sales messaging that our clients plan to push in the last quarter of the year. We will use that content to create social media ideas for three months.

For example, Client X is a non-profit with a “Giving Tuesday” push for the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to raise money. We will be posting once per week in the month leading up to Giving Tuesday (11/28), starting on 10/28. We’ll put a note on our content calendar each week, and then the week prior to giving Tuesday, we’ll post about this content 4 times. During this planning session, we aren’t writing the posts. That comes later. But we’ll put the idea and topic theme down on the calendar (and maybe some ideas) to fill out later.

This quarterly planning session should take no more than one hour. And we find that during this session other things come up, so we will make notes on things like:

Content ideas for NEXT quarter

Great content that worked in the quarters prior that we want to try again (either in the quarter we are planning for, or in the future- we suggest making a list of notes so you don’t forget great ideas!)

Tag certain posts as ones we want to highlight with ads or boosts

If we know we are going to have to create assets for a post, we make a note (or highlight it a different color on the calendar) so that we can easily see what needs to be done for the week or month.

2. Write your Content Bi-Monthly

Now that your content themes and topics are planned, at the beginning or end of each month, write the content for the next two weeks. Because this can be a time-intensive activity, we don’t usually write our content much further than two weeks out.

This is the time to really buckle down and think about what you want to say to your audience. In our Non-profit example for above, in October, we’re going to write the content to introduce the Giving Tuesday Campaign. Maybe it’s something like:

Next month, we invite you to join us for #GivingTuesday where you can make the difference in the lives of 7 children with a small donation of just $15. Won’t you join us!?

Time: 1-2 hours, 2x per month

3. Create your Assets in Batches

If you’re like me, asset-creating is the most time-consuming part of this process. (While Nikki can whip out something great in half the time it takes me!) but thankfully there are tools out there to make image creating, gif creating, gif to mp4 creation much simpler!

Don’t use Photoshop? Try Canva. We love stock images from Pexels and Unsplash (don’t just grab the first image you find when Googling- chances are it’s licensed and not free to use!)

Example for Giving Tuesday using Canva

Social Media, especially Facebook, loves images and videos, so use a mix of both. And Instagram is ONLY a visual platform, so you want to be creative when creating assets to compliment your text posts.

There are so many free resources out there, so here is a short list of some of our favorites:

You don’t have to create a custom image for each post, but you should have a visual element for everything you post (Twitter can be an exception). Utilize Stock images (free ones or pay for a subscription service) for some posts, create some custom posts using photoshop, if you know how to use it, or Canva templates, and share video (Uploading to Facebook is always more effective than sharing a link from You Tube).

Time: 2-4 hours, 2x per month

4. Schedule your posts weekly

We are big fans of posting directly to the social media platforms themselves, live, at the time you want the posts up. We don’t know the research that can back this, but it seems that engagement is best when you do this. However, that’s not always possible, so our favorite way to post is to schedule Facebook posts directly in Facebook (using their schedule feature) and schedule Tweets using Twitter Ads Manager. Instagram doesn’t have a built-in schedule feature.

But if you want to use an app, here are some we have used and can recommend. Each have pros and cons and none are perfect.

5. Interact with your audience daily

Don’t set it and forget it. Just because you killed this last quarter and planned the best content, wrote the best copy and create the best images and gifs to go along with it, doesn’t mean you can just schedule your posts in two batches monthly and forget about it.

Remember, social media is about being SOCIAL. Interact with your audience. If people are commenting on a Facebook post you forgot you scheduled 2 weeks ago, comment on it. Respond to comments. Ask questions in the comments! You don’t have to do this for hours a day, but try to jump into your comments and social media accounts a few times a day, for a few minutes at a time. Waiting for your coffee to warm up at the microwave, while you’re waiting for your popcorn to pop (or even on the toilet- hey we don’t judge) is a great time to see what is happening on your company’s social media!

Time: 2 hours per week

Total Time: 14-20 Hours per month or 3.5- 5 hours per week

It’s not a whole week of your life. It’s not even a whole day. If you can find 3-5 hours per week to dedicate to your social media planing, content creating, and designing yourself or your small team, you will be in GREAT shape!

Have any tips for managing social media when you’re a small team or solo marketer?

]]>https://methodagency.com/how-to-plan-social-media-content/feed/0Creating a Social Media Marketing Strategy (for a team or one person marketing department!)https://methodagency.com/social-media-marketing-strategy/
https://methodagency.com/social-media-marketing-strategy/#respondWed, 27 Jun 2018 21:11:28 +0000https://methodagency.com/?p=3920Creating a Social Media Marketing Strategy: Important, necessary and totally possible to do, even with a small or one-person marketing team!

]]>A s we’ve discussed before, we believe there are times when marketing can be handled in-house and you don’t hire a marketing agency. And in those instances, it’s important to have a strategy for all areas of marketing, including social media. But if you’re thinking:

“I can’t create a real strategy with my small team!”

or:

“I AM the marketing department! There is no way I can do one more thing on top of all I have to handle alone.”

Then this post is for you. Because we believe you CAN create a great social media strategy. Follow our template to create a strategy that you can implement yourself or with your small team.

Creating a Social Media Strategy

Determine your Goal for Social Media:

You have overall marketing goals, and you probably have sale goals. But what is your Social Media Goal? Is it to generate more leads? Is it for direct sales? Is it to communicate important messages about your company or brand? Is it all of the above?

Social Media Goal Example for a Tourism department:

Our social media marketing exists to spread the word about our town, activities, events and happenings to relevant audiences to encourage them to visit (and spend their money in town!)

What are your objectives?

Objectives should be measurable and specific. Break them down for each social media account:

For Facebook: An objective could be to grow your audience by 10% in the next quarter.

For Twitter: An objective is to increase your engagement (those interacting with commenting on , Retweeting your posts etc.) by 25% by the end of the year.

For Instagram: An your objective could be to get 100 user-generated content pieces to re-share on your account.

Objectives are important so that you can measure the success of your campaign and see where you have wins and areas that need improvement!

Don’t forget about Audiences!

Another important piece of your strategy is identifying your target audience or audiences. We like to throw these audiences in our objectives as they are often identified once we establish what we’re trying to measure with each social media account.

Using our Instagram objective for example:

We will be targeting tourists which we know range from women ages 45-60 and Men ages 21-35.

Frequency

Another piece we like to identify when putting together social media strategy is the frequency of posts. Facebook might be a 5 day a week post platform to reach your goal, while Instagram might just be 4 times a month.

Identify the Tactics you’ll use:

The next step is to come up with the tactics you’ll undertake to achieve your objectives.

Keeping with our Tourism Social Media idea, a few tactics might be:

Create an #LoveMyCity campaign (where “My City” is the name of your city) for tourists (and residents), encouraging them to hashtag their Instagram posts from around town. Monthly a winner chosen from the submissions will receive a gift certificate to a local business. You will (with the user’s permission) repost the images and be able to have user-generated content created BY local visitors!

Use Twitter to post about all the businesses in your area. Tell facts about the 5 restaurants downtown. Retweet and re-share content from the local coffee shop. Share tips about the best places to hike and to find a shady spot at the park!

Facebook loves pictures and videos, so you can do mini interviews with business owners. Ask the chamber of commerce to have their members submit pictures and videos. Re-share the content from Instagram that gets a lot of engagement. Look up events going on in town and post about those or re-share posts from local business pages. Curate a weekly guide of what is happening in town to post towards the end of the week!

Content and Messaging

After identifying the tactics, brainstorm about the messaging you can use for each tactic.

A Twitter Example might be:

Create a series called “5 Questions with….” and ask 5 Questions of all the businesses downtown, sharing them in threaded tweets, including a photo of the business or manager!

Great, but how can I actually create this strategy?

For businesses or organizations with marketing departments, goal setting and strategy should be an annual activity with quarterly updates and check ins (and monthly reporting). But for the rest of us, those without big departments, one man departments or just one person manning the WHOLE ship, how can we actually make it happen?

It’s possible! We promise. It just takes dedicated time, away from everything else.

Go to your local coffee shop, unplug your devices and jot down ideas. It doesn’t have to be something that you’d submit as your senior thesis. It can be messy. It can have lots of ideas in progress. The point is to get a strategy behind all the ideas going on in your head. Brainstorm, write down tons of thoughts and ideas.

Our next article will talk about some tactics (hey, we used that word too!) you can use to do social media with a small or one-person team.

If you’re looking for help in creating your social media marketing strategy or want to take your strategy to the next level, we can help! Get in touch so we can discuss working together!

]]>https://methodagency.com/social-media-marketing-strategy/feed/05 Questions to Ask before Starting a Businesshttps://methodagency.com/5-questions-to-ask-before-starting-a-business/
https://methodagency.com/5-questions-to-ask-before-starting-a-business/#respondTue, 12 Jun 2018 20:42:00 +0000https://methodagency.com/?p=3900We invited our business Coach on our show Bitches in Business to discuss business best practices. Learn the questions Dave suggests you ask before starting a business!

There was one section from our conversation that was particularly fabulous, and we thought we’d share it here on our blog. We asked Dave what questions someone should ask themselves before starting the entrepreneurship journey. Watch this short clip to hear Dave’s great advice

Feeling lazy? Here are….

5 Questions to ask before starting a business:

1. What value does this new business bring to the marketplace ?

2. Do you have access to the resources that you are going to need to keep this business afloat for 6 months to a year (while it’s grinding and the bills are hard to pay)?

3. Do you really understand your target and your prospect?

4. What is the real future of this business within the industry?

5. Do you really have what it takes (and are you willing to have what it takes) to last 2,3,4 years of the grind?

]]>Are you a city, Chamber of Commerce, or a tourism related business? How’s your marketing plan looking? Here at Method Agency, we chat with lots of DMOs (fancy acronym for Destination Marketing Organization) about their digital marketing efforts (or lack thereof) and we’ve come away with a list of questions you need to be asking about your organization. Get comfy, pause your emails, and let’s take a real quick evaluation of your DMO Marketing!.

Do you have an overall marketing plan or strategy in place? Are you using it?.
Putting a plan in place gives your marketing strategy a focus and timeline. Even if it’s a loose framework for the coming year’s events and goals, a marketing plan is imperative for not only your organization but for any outside teams you hire..

Is your Marketing Plan diversified? Do you post to at least two social media profiles consistently?.
Maybe you have an amazing Instagram that gets killer engagement, or have hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. But if the recent Facebook Data scandal and their consistent algorithm changes have taught us anything, is that you cannot rely on ONE social networking site as the only element of your marketing plan. Facebook does not a marketing strategy, make!.

Are you sending regular emails to your email list? (Do you even have an email list?).
Your marketing plan should include things like growing your email subscriber list and sending regular emails. There’s no greater antidote to algorithm changes and market fluctuations like OWNING the channels with which you communicate with your customers..

Are you blogging regularly?.We’ve talked about why every company should be blogging, but any DMO should DEFINITELY be blogging. Be publishing blogs on your website, you not only control the content (again, it’s about controlling as many outlets as you can) but you can become the go-to information source for YOUR organization or your city. This also helps increase your SEO efforts. Start blogging, people!.
.

Do You Have Video Content?.
If you don’t have video content already created or a plan to get some asap, you’re missing everything. Video is where it’s at on every platform and can be used again and again either edited or re-shared later. Potential visitors and customers want to be able to SEE where they’re planning a trip or big event. Show them what makes your destination special. Make video (and good photography while we’re at it) part of your marketing budget!.

Are You Utilizing Digital Advertising – especially social media advertising?.We talk A LOT about digital advertising on our blog here, and insist that most every new client ear mark part of their budget for social ads. So many of the social media sites have become pay to play, and that’s just something we have to accept and plan for..

Experiment!.
Have you tried at least one new marketing technique in the last quarter? A new social network, or a new ad, perhaps? Have you invited a social media influencer to your destination? Did you set up new segmented audiences in your email system?.

RESEARCH!.
Do you know WHO your audience is, off the top of your head, RIGHT NOW? Are they families, retirees, adventure seekers? What are their ages and genders, where do they comes from, how did they hear about your destination? How did they find you and how can you maximize it? You gotta know who your audience is before you can target them with your marketing plan..

Is your Website (and social media) optimized for Mobile? – How old is your website? Is it easy to use, and most importantly, is it mobile friendly? Are your social profiles optimized for mobile use?.Here are some eye-opening statistics* for you:

In 2018, 52.2 percent of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones, up from 50.3

By 2019, mobile advertising is expected to represent 72% of all U.S. digital ad spending.

80% of social media time is spent on a mobile device

Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead.

Average smartphone conversion rates are up 64% compared to the average desktop conversion rates.

88% of consumers who search for a type of local business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours..
Whew. Those statistics are HOT FIRE!! We love it and we want your website to be killer so that any person who is researching, or visiting you has any easy way to find out information about your destination. Can you imagine traveling to a new place with just your phone or tablet and not being able to access or properly view a website you need? They’re gonna move on to the next city or business instead of spending their money where you want it. Mobile optimization is vital in 2018.

.
So we’ve reached the end of the evaluation? How did you do… are you on track and optimizing all marketing avenues for your destination? YAY!! Do you maybe need a little tune-up or a partner like Method? Contact us, we LOVE tourism marketing!.

]]>https://methodagency.com/take-our-dmo-tourism-marketing-self-evaulation/feed/1Should I hire a Marketing Agency or Marketing Employee?https://methodagency.com/should-i-hire-a-marketing-agency/
https://methodagency.com/should-i-hire-a-marketing-agency/#commentsTue, 08 May 2018 20:27:33 +0000https://methodagency.com/?p=3826Are you asking yourself "Should I Hire a Marketing Agency or Marketing Employee?" Well, we have the answer (and it's probably not what you think...!)

]]>I f you are asking the question “Should I hire a Marketing Agency or in-house Marketing employee” then congrats! You are at a point in your business when marketing isn’t just an after-thought or something you “should” do because “someone” said you should. You’re ready to take your marketing to the next level, put some strategy behind it, hire an expert and GROW!
It’s terrifying!

We’ve had conversations recently with clients, potential clients and other business owners asking the same question, and as a marketing agency, obviously you know our answer is going to be: Hire a Marketing Agency right!?

Wrong!

Okay— it’s not that simple. So let’s break it down, shall we?

The Case for Hiring an in-house marketing employee:

If you have a product-based business, a store front or sell anything tactical directly to consumers (Like a retail store, an e-commerce clothing company, a candle designer and distributor) there is a strong case for having someone on your marketing staff in-house.

You need images of products. You need to document the design process. You need someone “on the ground” with product knowledge and direct experience with what you do and what you sell.

You could get that from an agency. You could box up product and ship it to an agency to photograph themselves. A marketing agency could come in monthly for a photoshoot or strategize on how your team could provide images and content to them- and there are plenty of agencies that do just that. But there will still need to be someone in-house to direct the agency, tell them what products are what, show them what is on sale, what the differences are between Product A and B. And sometimes this is more efficient when it’s done in house.

An agency’s expertise is marketing and strategy– not your product. If what you sell relies on a product expert, that doesn’t mean you can’t use an agency’s services, but you need to have a marketing person in-house with that product knowledge as well.

The Case for Hiring a Marketing Agency:

Hire an marketing agency when you need someone with specific marketing knowledge that you can’t get in-house. Agencies should be experts on the types of marketing they provide, whether that’s digital, social media, PR or traditional marketing. As a business owner, you shouldn’t have to stay up to date on what Instagram and Facebook are doing to change their algorithms that will directly affect your bottom line. Your agency should know about this and other industry trends.

Your agency should have emailed you recently to tell you Twitter messed up and you better change your password (Seriously, do that today if you haven’t yet!). The agency is the industry expert. They get the extra training, learn about the latest tools and methods to take your marketing to the next level.

An agency relationship works best with a partner on the inside. That does not mean you need a marketing person inside— many small businesses use agencies completely for all their marketing. (In fact, half of our clients don’t have marketers on their team- we ARE their marketers!) But there needs to be point person to meet with the agency, direct the agency, approve strategies, tell them about your sales tactics, promotions, events and selling cycle looks like so that your work together is more productive and successful!

You may not need an in-house marketer. We work with many successful businesses who don’t have one. But if you’re going to rely solely on an outside partner, make sure someone at your company is identified as the point person to work on marketing strategies with your agency. This person should have an understanding of the marketing and sales to best serve the agency relationship.

And if you do decide to hire in-house and forego the agency, keep in mind that your marketer can’t do it all. From PPC to SEO to advertising to design to photography to PR and social media- a good marketer will have a basic knowledge of all these tactics, but few have direct, deep experience in everything. And even less have the time and ability to handle everything at once! Most businesses will eventually need to hire an agency for part of their marketing efforts.

If you’re ready to talk about working with a marketing agency, get in touch! We’d love to talk!

]]>https://methodagency.com/should-i-hire-a-marketing-agency/feed/2Is Facebook Ripping Off Small Businesses with their Boost Post Feature?https://methodagency.com/is-facebook-ripping-off-small-businesses-with-their-boost-post-feature/
https://methodagency.com/is-facebook-ripping-off-small-businesses-with-their-boost-post-feature/#respondFri, 20 Apr 2018 19:55:03 +0000https://methodagency.com/?p=3744Here's 5 reasons why using the Facebook Boost Post feature might not be the best use of your ad dollars.

]]>If you’re a small business who dabbles in Facebook Ads, you’ve probably been prompted by Facebook to “Boost” you post to reach more people for only twenty bucks! Cause after all “your post is performing 9843573485% better than other posts like it!” You’ve probably gotten this message from Facebook before, which of course is cause for celebration BUT then they hit you with the “reach 1000 more people by boosting this post for $32.00!” Why is it always some odd number too? Have you noticed that?

Boosting posts sounds super easy right? Sure! It sounds like a great way to use your Ad budget, right?

WRONG!

What’s wrong about blindly using the Boost Post feature is that Facebook is preying on the assumption that most Business Owners don’t know the numerous different Ad options that Facebook offers it’s users within their Ads Manager. By pushing it’s Boosted Posts option, a Business is usually only ever increasing the amount of eyes (or “reach”) a post will receive. And while that’s great for some types of posts: an announcement or big news a business wants to share, but these types of Ads are not optimizing for other marketing objectives a business might have. Those might include Sales, or Event Attendees, or Followers.

Here’s Why You Should Be Wary of Facebook’s Boost Post Feature:

1. Your objective

Even with their recent addition of two other objectives (website visits and messages), your goal might be something outside of these objectives or reach. You might want sales or to increase your Page followers. If that’s the case, the Boost isn’t for you.

2. You can’t choose WHERE your ad runs

Perhaps you don’t want mobile users to receive this ad? Sorry, you’re outta luck here. The Boosted ad is served to Desktop, Mobile, and now Instagram (unless you uncheck this option).

3. You have not set up your Pixel

What’s a Pixel? Well, it’s a SUPER powerful tool you can set up to gather important data about sales, users, and visitors. If you haven’t set it up yet, your Boost will not be able to utilize the Pixel. Wanna know more about this? Contact us!

4. You can’t A/B test Boosts

What works for the goose is good for the gander, right? Well, not always in the world of advertising. An ad you really like, might not be reaching your intended audience. But in Boosted Posts you cannot do A/B testing.

5. You don’t want to waste money!

Sure Facebook wants you to spend the randomly chosen budget of $57.00 on your Boost but WHY?! How does that amount fit into your overall Budget? While a $10 Boost might be a great investment to get the word out about your new store opening, the other $47 dollars might be better spent on a targeted Event Ad getting local people INTO your store on the Grand Opening day. Boosted Posts can’t do that!

There are definitely times when using the Boost Post feature on Facebook is appropriate but not before you’ve decided your objective, created the appropriate audience, and tested what creative engages your followers. Then and only then, can we recommend pushing that Boost button.

Facebook Ads can be powerful marketing tools when used correctly and in conjunction with a holistic ad and marketing strategy!

]]>https://methodagency.com/is-facebook-ripping-off-small-businesses-with-their-boost-post-feature/feed/0What is going on with Facebook?https://methodagency.com/facebook-organic-reach-in-2018/
https://methodagency.com/facebook-organic-reach-in-2018/#respondWed, 11 Apr 2018 18:38:51 +0000https://methodagency.com/?p=3750Facebook organic reach is dropping, Mark Zuckerberg is on Capitol Hill, people are quitting Facebook left and right, so what does that mean for YOU and your business?

]]>W e know. We know. Facebook is all anyone is talking about these days.

Mark Zuckerberg is as we write this in a hearing on Capitol Hill, explaining how the internet works to a bunch of politicians who apparently understand about as much as our grandparents do (To be honest, my grandma is QUICK with her responses to everything I post on Facebook, so I think she understands even more!).

There’s that whole mess with Cambridge Analytica, and its possible your own personal data was shared without your permission with a company whose mission is to control people’s behaviors by learning what makes them tick. (You can check if your data was shared here on Facebook.)

Marketing Speaker, Writer and Influencer Grant Cardone went on a video rant and wrote a scathing letter to Facebook saying he was done spending millions in advertising and taking his audience of 6 million + elsewhere unless they stopped throttling him.

“Seems like you guys have enough going on with breaches and accusations of political influence and should get back to your mission; “Give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” Until this is handled I will be moving my daily live streams to other channels and discontinuing advertising with your company.”

You have seen your own posts decreasing in reach with every passing week. You thought last year was bad, but 2018 is telling Organic Reach to “Hold my Drink.” And it’s probably not at the bottom, yet.

We are all feeling it. We are all freaking out in some way about what is going on with Facebook.

At the same time, we’re not completely freaking out.

This unsure time has been a reminder of a few important things about Facebook and Marketing in general:

We cannot control Facebook.

It could be gone tomorrow. If you’re entire marketing strategy is focused on Facebook, now is the time to freak out. You need a new strategy. Facebook should be a part, not all of your strategy.

Facebook IS Pay for Play.

You have to have an ad budget to get your message seen. If you don’t, the hard work you’ve put into building your audience will be in vain. The majority of your audience will not see your message. Studies show that just 2-10% of your audience will see a post at any time, organically, and to be honest- those numbers are probably out of date. We’ve seen (with larger pages, especially) those numbers are much lower.

But just because it’s Pay for Play doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post organic content.

You have to be strategic about the posts you DO put advertising dollars behind. Make sure you identify the goal of your post and the ad: Is it Sales? Look at conversion ads. It is a News Announcement you want a lot of eyes on? Consider a Boost. Don’t just press boost without thinking about the end goal. Facebook makes it EASY to Boost, and Boosts are usually not the best idea. We have an article coming SOON about this very topic, so get excited!

You should post non-advertised or boosted content to your page, but maybe not as often. Save your best stuff for ads. Re-post older content to keep your page active. Create the types of posts that Facebook loves- video and imagery. Even if it’s just a small percentage of your overall audience, there are actively engaged people looking to connect with you!

Consider a Facebook Group for your VIP fans.

Right now, Facebook Groups are getting great engagement. But warning: all good things must come to an end! We assume the great engagement will be throttled eventually (or become a paid feature).

Focus on what you can control.

And one thing has remained true over the last 10-15 years: Emailing your customers is important. Emails are something YOU control. You get to decide when to send emails. Your email list is still extremely valuable, and you should be focusing on your email strategy as much as you are thinking about your social media and Facebook strategy

Overall, Facebook is still an important part of any marketing strategy, but it shouldn’t be the whole strategy.

If you’re struggling with what to focus on in your business, how to handle Facebook, Facebook Ads management and Email Marketing, get in touch! We’d love to talk about what working with Method Agency looks like!

]]>B eing a “boutique digital agency” (industry lingo for SMALL), means we have the flexibility of trying new systems for productivity and organization. We get to test out the latest and greatest apps because it doesn’t mean on-boarding a whole team of 20 people and changing their workflow for an app we end up hating. In fact, there are apps and tools both Nikki and I use to run the day to day and project management of Method Agency, but we also have tools we use separately.

So in the spirit of the question we ask all our Bitches in Business Guests, here are the top 5 Apps and Online Tools we use to run our business:

My Top 5 Favorite Productivity and Organization Apps

1. TeuxDeux

I Love the TeuxDeux app. I mostly use the web-based app when I have my computer opened during the day, but the mobile app is great, as well.

In a world filled with many complicated project management and task management tools, TeuxDeux is SO simple. You add your tasks for the day, you cross off the ones you accomplish and anything you don’t complete automatically gets pushed to the next day.

Here is what my current list looks like. I have a lot to do and it’s already past 6 pm. Ah!

There are static lists which I use for ideas/notes/reminders/links and so much more! It’s simple, easy-to-use (and cheap! $3/mo!). I set up recurring tasks for things I do each Monday, Friday or once a month. I start my week going through TeuxDeux and organizing it for the week. It’s so simple, it’s impossible to get lost in the details. I use this as a daily, overview of my priorities. It’s been a game-changer for me! Try it out at https://teuxdeux.com/.

2. Trello

Our Business Coach got us using this modern agency staple, and for awhile we just used it for our work within our Coaching Plan. I like Trello for it’s ease of card set up, list organization and how it can link to your Google Drive, but I think it is limited in its list function (why can’t there be sublists, for example?). It wasn’t until we started a web project with a contractor that I really bought into the project management aspects of Trello.

And now, I can’t stop making boards! From personal boards to home buying boards to method project boards, I’m all-in on Trello as a Project Management Tool.

At the start of a project (or after a really inspiring personal session of ‘HERE ARE ALL THE THINGS I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE”) we make a list with ALL the cards representing ideas or parts of a project. It may be messy, but that’s fine. We’ll clean it up later. Then we start to break up the lists, from Weekly tasks (or goal dates for project milestones) or “Bekah Tasks” and “Nikki Tasks” or “Dev person Tasks.”

We can communicate within each card, move them to the “Completed” list we create, set due dates, link to content on Google Drive and so much more! Try Trello (Ps: I’m still on the free version!)

3. Toggl

In most of our client relationships, we don’t bill hourly but instead have retainers or project fees. However, we still track our time so that we make sure we are estimating correctly when we project billing for projects.

I track my time with Toggl, a simple-to-use web and mobile app that simply tracks my time and assigns a “project” with a client. You can get details with many types of tasks and projects for each client, but I keep it simple and usually just 1 or 2 task types for clients.

Here is how my day looks so far (and if you’re interested, I’ve been tracking this blog post for 43 min and 44 seconds!)

At the end of each week, you get a detailed reporting of all your tasks for the previous week, which Nikki and I track and go over every once in awhile to make sure we are on track, adjusting as necessary. Best part? Toggl is free! There is a paid version, of course, but I like free!

4. #Slack

You knew this one was coming, right? Of course we use, #Slack, because, who doesn’t?

A little #Slack humor for our Thats-Normal.com Admin board

We use Slack for team communication, communication with strategic partners and for saving important organizational docs related to conversations but not necessarily projects. Yeah.. it gets a little confusing having Trello, Slack AND our own personal to-do list systems. But Slack just isn’t a project management tool, so you need something external, we have found.

5. WaveApps

Five years ago when we started Method Agency LLC and had no idea what we were doing, we started doing our expenses and accounting with an app (spoiler: it’s free) called WaveApps. We always assumed we’d eventually have to move to a paid accounting system, but Wave has surprisingly been powerful enough for our ’boutique’ agency so far all these years!

My only complaint is that it lacks a budgeting feature, so we have been exploring other options to hopefully lessen the amount we rely on excel and the easy ability to mess-up formulas. But if you’re looking for a pretty powerful, easy to use, expense tracking, full-accounting system with invoicing, check out WaveApps!

Bonus: Gusto for Payroll. We love, love, LOVE Gusto. Gusto makes getting paid and running payroll fun. I know those words usually don’t go together (well, the running payroll + fun part), but you’ll have to try it out to believe us!

Those are my Top 5 Favorite Apps, but I’m always looking to streamline the process, get more organized and communicate better. So let me hear it: What are your favorites? What do you use to project manage along with Slack? How do you utilize Trello? Sound off in the comments!

]]>https://methodagency.com/productivity-and-organization-apps/feed/2Planning Holiday Content for Social Mediahttps://methodagency.com/planning-holiday-social-media-content/
https://methodagency.com/planning-holiday-social-media-content/#respondWed, 01 Nov 2017 12:00:24 +0000https://methodagency.com/?p=2348It's November and that means the Holidays are upon us! Here's your guide to planning Holiday Social Media content!

]]>It’s officially November and that means it’s the start of the Holiday season for many businesses as well as our clients. Between now and January we have:

Thanksgiving

Black Friday

Cyber Monday

Hanukkah

Christmas

Day after Christmas / Boxing Day

New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Day

And the list goes on! Depending on your client’s personal wishes, their business model and even their location, this list can change drastically but at the end of the day, this is a LOT of content to create, approve and share with your followers!.

There are many things to take into consideration when planning Holiday Social Media content….

CONSIDER THE CLIENT

Each client is different and what might be appropriate for one isn’t relevant for another. Before you hit the heart of the Holidays, have a quick chat or email with your client about their wishes. Some questions to get you started:

Does the marketing plan include any special sales?

Will there be a Holiday sales/shipping code to share?

Do they prefer certain terms like “holidays” or “Christmas?”

Should the account not post during specific days?

If your client sells products, are there cut-off dates for shipping to ensure arrival?.

With this information in hand you can then plan your content, create it, and schedule as needed. While we prefer and recommend, social media to be posted live and natively within the account the DAY OF, we know it’s not always an option, especially around the Holidays. Social Media Managers have lives too! Since we believe this and we encourage other social media pros to create boundaries, using scheduling tools for these days is great! Most social media networks have their own scheduling options, like Facebook and even Twitter, within their Business Dashboard (Read more here!) but then there’s Instagram. We’ve tried several Instagram scheduling apps and have NOT been impressed. That just means you gotta set a timer to remind yourself to post, day of. Do yourself a favor, and have the creative and copy saved on your phone and ready to go. When the timer goes off, we suggest grabbing your Holiday themed cocktail and heading to a quiet spot (the bathroom) for five minutes to escape all the family togetherness! WE MEAN POST FOR YOUR CLIENT! .

THE DAY AFTER THE HOLIDAY

For a lot of businesses, the day after a Holiday is super important, sometimes more so than the Holiday itself. Will your client have sales following the Holiday? Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the day after Christmas or just plain ol Labor Day, what information do you need to share with your client’s followers?
Don’t forget to share your client’s:

Special Holiday Hours of Operation

Sales Codes or Special offerings

Sales Locations and Dates.

DON’T FORGET HOLIDAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR!

We have a client who celebrates the holiday of Eid al-Adha (of EID), we work with them prior to figure out the relevant info, and a special message to pass along to those who celebrate this feast during late summer. What holidays might you be missing throughout the year?

And don’t forget yourself! Are you an agency, an independent contractor or a public figure? This post is for you too! Don’t forget your own Holiday content and definitely don’t forget client gifts and cards this Holiday season!.

]]>https://methodagency.com/planning-holiday-social-media-content/feed/0Social Media does NOT Equal Saleshttps://methodagency.com/social-media-does-not-equal-sales/
https://methodagency.com/social-media-does-not-equal-sales/#commentsThu, 19 Oct 2017 20:20:44 +0000https://methodagency.com/?p=2226Social media does NOT equal Sales. And we are SO sorry to be the bearer of this bad news!

“Sales are slow. I need to drum up some new business. I know! I’ll post on Facebook and the sales will come ROLLING in!”

It’s easy to think! When you’re busy and raking in the money, finding time to keep up with your Twitter feed, share updates about the business on Facebook and post cool images of your product/brand/showroom on Instagram gets put on the back burner.

But social media suddenly is a very enticing sales opportunity the moment things slow down and your cash flow is drying up.

Unfortunately, I have some tough news to share:

Social Media does NOT Equal Sales

Social Media is about connecting with your audience in a real and genuine way. As a business owner, what that means is providing helpful, interesting and engaging information to your fans and followers so that WHEN the opportunity to sell your products or services comes up, it happens in a natural way.

For example:

A Jewelry Designer (hey- we work with one of those!) may share a series of Instagram posts showing her process from design to manufacture.Seeing some sketches on paper that turn into digital designs in photoshop to a final ring on a finger are super impressive to a follower (cough, like me!) But that series of photos doesn’t directly SELL anything. However, if it’s done well, it will be interesting to the followers.

Maybe the photos are rolled out in such a way that each day a new part of the process is reveled. And each day we as fans get to see the jewelry come to life in a unique way, ultimately resulting in the final completed piece of jewelry being revealed!Will that result in direct sales? Possibly!

If the end product is cool enough, priced right, available for purchase right then and there and easy to buy, it could happen!But what it will do FOR SURE is connect the fans in a unique way that gets them sharing the content, telling friends about it, and engaging with the designer authentically.

Guaranteeing Sales Results

As an agency working with businesses of all types, big and small, we often get asked to work on “commission.” If a company can’t afford our rate, they will pitch the idea that they will give us a share of the profits we produce by running their social media. It’s a great idea, in theory, and one many other business types do as sales commissions are a common thing!

But we know from our experience, that we could lay out the BEST social media strategy, create the most engaging, beautiful, artistic content that increases followers, gets people talking and sharing and yield ZERO sales results.

Social Media does NOT guarantee Direct Sales

We know that if a great strategy is in place and implemented well, combined with a great product or service and the right audience, sales will happen over time. But it may not be as a result of a Facebook post. Or a beautiful Instagram feed. Or the most retweeted Tweets.

Sales happen with a combination of all 3, PLUS a great website, ADD in some PR in the local news, AND a beautiful showroom in a great location COMBINED with word of mouth from happy customers who share their happiness with their friends and family, online and off!

Social Media is an important part of any business plan, but it’s just one part of a bigger pie.

Exceptions to the rule:

Of course there are exceptions! One that can be true in Social Media is: Social media Advertising. There are ways to link your Facebook page to your E-commerce site so that when you create an ad for Product X and target an Audience you know loves your product, you can see DIRECT SALES as a result! While we could call this social media, in reality, we think of this is a traditional advertising campaign, utilize social media as the platform to display the ads!

If you’re looking to integrate a social media strategy into your business plans, we’d love to help! Contact Us to find out what working with method Agency looks like.

Have any great social media success stories to share? Do so in the comments!